This Angband spoiler describes in detail all three major types of monster attacks (melee, breath, and spellcasting).

Please notify the author of any errors (however minor) that you find. Also, it is my intention to provide complete information rather than easy-to-understand information, so this spoiler is necessarily verbose. Suggestions to improve the format of this spoiler are welcome (especially if they help make this spoiler easier to read).

NOTICEThere have been a number of changes between v2.7.9v6 and older versions of Angband; some of the following information may be inaccurate for older versions. If you are playing version 2.7.8 or older, use version 1.10 of this spoiler (fortunately there have been relatively few changes in monster attacks between 1.0 and 2.7.8).

The notation "XdY" indicates a number obtained by rolling an Y-sided die X times. (Thus 4d6 indicates a number from 4 to 24.)

A capital "M" indicates a number equal to the level of a monster making a given attack. (Thus a monster normally found at depths of 1000 feet would have M equal to 20.)

The following abbrevations are used throughout this spoiler to indicate the effects of some attacks. In place of X "X max Y" may be written, in which case X simply has a maximum value of Y.

Blind[X] -- Blinds the character for X turns, unless the character has resist blindness.
Confuse[X] -- Confuses the character for X turns, unless the character has resist confusion or chaos.
Cut[X] -- Cuts the player (adding X to the cut counter), unless the character has resist shards.
Cut![X] -- Cuts the player (adding X to the cut counter), even if the character has resist shards.
Paralyze[X] -- Paralyzes the character for X turns, unless the character has free action.
Slow[X] -- Slows the character (-10 to speed) for X turns, unless the character has free action.
Slow![X] -- Slows the character (-10 to speed) for X turns, even if the player has free action.
Stun[X] -- Stuns the character (adding X to the stun counter), unless the character has resist sound.
Terrify[X] -- Frightens the character for X turns, unless the character is currently resistant to fear.

If the player already is unfortunate enough to already have such an ailment when hit by an attack that causes that ailment, the ailment duration is cumulative unless otherwise indicated.

The five basic elemental attack forms are fire, cold, acid, electricity, and poison. This section describes the effects of such attacks; the following comments apply regardless of the source of these attacks, so this is where to look for details if such an attack is mentioned elsewhere.

In all five cases, if the character has immunity to the type of attack that hits him or her, no harm whatsoever is done to the character. Divide the damage done by three if the character has permanent resistance to the elemental attack; also divide by three if the character has temporary resistance to the elemental attack. "Permanent" resistance is the sort of resistance gained from equipping the appropriate item; "temporary" resistance arises from a spell, potion, artifact activation, or the like. Note that equipping more than one item providing an elemental resistance does not provide additional resistance, though such resistance *is* cumulative with temporary resistance.

Fire, cold, acid, and electrical attacks can destroy items in a player's inventory. The probability of destruction for each vulnerable item is 1% if the attack is for 1-29 damage, 2% if the attack is for 30-59 damage, or 3% if the attack is for 60 or more damage; damage as considered here is that *before* resistance is taken into account. Only complete immunity to the attack form can prevent or reduce the frequency of inventory damage. Artifacts cannot be harmed by such attacks; the same applies for any other objects specifically resistant to harm from the particular elemental attack.

ACID damage: The acid randomly attacks a piece of armor the player is wearing, with equal chances of hitting the player's body armor, cloak, shield, helm, boots, or gloves. If the affected armor is not resistant to acid damage, and still affords some bonus to AC, it will lose one point from its bonus to AC. If such damage occurs, or the affected armor is resistant to acid damage, the damage done to the player is halved. Acid can also destroy armor, melee weapons, bows, arrows, bolts, staffs, scrolls, chests, and junk in the player's inventory.

ELECTRICAL damage: Electricity can destroy rings and wands in the player's inventory.

POISON damage: If the player does not have any form of immunity or resistance to poison, the player will be poisoned for a duration that is equal to a random number from 1 to the damage done, plus a fixed constant.

The character will sometimes be able to avoid the effects of certain attacks. The character may evade these attacks by making a successful saving throw roll. This chance may be calculated using the following tables. Start with the base saving throw for the player's class, and then add in the race adjustment. To take level into account, add in the product of your character's experience level and the class bonus per level modifier. To this add the appropriate wisdom modifier. This will yield the percent chance of the character successfully making a saving throw. (Be sure to round down to the nearest integer.)

Your character's armor class (AC) is important, for it both makes it harder for monsters to successfully land a blow in hand-to-hand combat and sometimes reduces the damage your character takes when he or she does get hit.

Brackets in the description of a fully identified object always enclose information on armor class. To calculate armor class, first add up all the bracket-enclosed numbers among your character's equipped items. Any body armor, shield, helm, gloves, boots, or cloak that is equipped will offer a contribution to armor class; when fully identified any one of these will have a pair of numbers enclosed in brackets. The first member of this pair is the base armor class provided by the armor, and the second describes the magical enchantment or curse that further modifies armor class.

Other items that when equipped alter armor class include Rings of Protection, Flames, Ice, and Acid; Amulets of the Magi; and Holy Avenger weapons, Defender weapons, and some of the artifact weapons.

Next, your character's dexterity may give a bonus or penalty to armor class. Use the following table to determine this bonus, and add it to the total armor class offered by equipped objects.

Every monster can have up to four melee attacks on the character in a round; the attacks are processed independently.

If your character is currently under the magical effect of protection from evil, and the monster attacking is evil and of equal or lower level than than the character, the monster may be completely repelled. This will occur (49+player's exp. level)% of the time.

If the monster's attack is not repelled by protection from evil, one in twenty attacks will always miss, and one in twenty attacks will always succeed, regardless of the level of the monster or the character's AC.

Otherwise, the probability the monster successfully lands a blow is computed as follows. Find the attack form in the following list, and take the number enclosed in parentheses. To this number add three times the monster's level; call the resulting total K. The monster's attack will connect with a probability of (K-(3/4 of the player's AC)) in K.

(If the character's AC is negative, the attack of any monster will only fail the minimum 1 time in 20. If, for a given monster, K<(3/4 of the character's AC), the monster will have only the minimum 1 in 20 chance to successfully strike the character.)

Descriptions of the melee attack forms:

attack (60)
This is the basic attack of pure physical damage. The damage done is reduced by (player's AC*(2/5))%; AC for the purpose of damage reduction has a maximum value of 150.

poison (5)
If the character lacks any sort of resistance to poison, he or she will be poisoned (5+1d(monster's level)) points are added to the poison counter).

disenchant (20)
Unless the character has resist disenchantment, a currently equipped weapon or piece of armor will be disenchanted, reducing bonuses to-hit, to-dam, and to AC by 1 or 2 points; bonuses cannot drop below 0. Artifacts have a 3 in 5 chance to resist the disenchantment effect.

drain charges (15)
Randomly selects an item from the character's inventory; if the item chosen is a wand or staff, all of its charges will be drained by the attacking monster, which will gain a number of hit points equal to the number of charges drained multiplied by the monster's level. The process is repeated until either an item is drained or ten items have been picked. If multiple wands or staffs are in a single slot, all of them will be drained.

steal gold (5)
The monster will attempt to steal gold; if not paralyzed, the character can make a Dexterity check to avoid the theft. To find the percent chance of a successful theft evasion, add the appropriate value from the below table to the player's level. If the monster's attempt to steal succeeds, or 1 in 3 times otherwise, it will teleport up to 25 squares away.

Dex

Base %

Dex

Base %

Dex

Base %

3

0

14-15

8

18/80-18/89

40

4

1

16-17

9

18/90-18/99

45

5

2

18-18/19

10

18/100-18/109

50

6

3

18/20-18/39

15

18/110-18/119

60

7

4

18/40-18/49

20

18/120-18/129

70

8-9

5

18/50-18/59

25

18/130-18/139

80

10-11

6

18/60-18/69

30

18/140-18/149

90

12-13

7

18/70-18/79

35

18/150+

100

steal items (5)
The monster will attempt to steal a single non-artifact object from the player's inventory. If not paralyzed, the character can make a Dexterity check to avoid the theft; use the same method listed under "steal gold" find the chance of successful evastion. If the monster's attempt to steal succeeds, or 1 in 3 times otherwise, it will teleport up to 25 squares away from the player.

eat your food (5)
The monster will attempt to consume one item of food from the character's inventory. (This does include mushrooms.)

absorb light (5)
Absorbs 250+1d250 turns of light from an equipped torch or lantern. This does not affect artifact lights.

shoot acid (0)
Inflicts acid damage.

electrify (10)
Inflicts electrical damage.

burn (10)
Inflicts fire damage.

freeze (10)
Inflicts cold damage.

blind (2)
Has the effect of Blind[10+1dM].

confuse (10)
Has the effect of Confuse[3+1dM].

terrify (10)
Has the effect of Terrify[3+1dM] if the character fails a saving throw.

paralyse (2)
Has the effect of Paralyze[3+1dM] if the character fails a saving throw.

reduce all stats (2)
Reduces any stats for which the character does not have a sustain.

shatter (60)
This attack is like a standard attack to cause damage. Also, if the monster can cause earthquakes (currently only Quaker and Morgoth can do this), and at least 24 damage was done by the attack, a radius-8 earthquake centered on the monster will be triggered. The earthquake has the same effect as the spell and the staff effect, with the difference that the player can be affected. If a wall is made on top of the player, the player will take 300 damage from being crushed by debris if he or she cannot escape the debris. If the player can escape to safety, 1 in 3 times he or she can escape unscathed; otherwise the player will take 10d4 damage and be stunned (1d50 points added to the stun counter).

lower experience (by 10d6+) (5) (hold life grants 95% resistance)
lower experience (by 20d6+) (5) (hold life grants 90% resistance)
lower experience (by 40d6+) (5) (hold life grants 75% resistance)
lower experience (by 80d6+) (5) (hold life grants 50% resistance)
These attacks attempt to reduce the character's experience point total by 2% plus the amount indicated. If the player has hold life, this will only occur some of the time as indicated above -- and even if the drain does succeed in penetrating the hold life barrier, the experience loss is reduced by 90%.

If a monster scores a particularly effective blow against the player, it may succeed in scoring a critical hit. A critical hit either stuns or cuts the player; a single critical hit cannot do both.

The description of an attack must be of a certain type in order to inflict a critical hit.

An ordinary hit (i.e. the monster attack description says "hit") can either cut or stun the player. Punches, kicks, butts, and crushes can stun the player. Claws and bites can cut the player. No other attack method can cause a critical hit.

Here's how to determine if a hit is critical: first of all, the attack must do at least 95% of maximum damage. Also, if less than 20 damage is done by the attack, it will only be critical (damage+1) percent of the time.

To calculate the precise effect of the effect, first find the corresponding value of C on the chart to the right. Then, add one to C if the damage done by the attack attained the absolute maximum possible value. After that, if at least 20 damage was done, there is a 2% chance that 1 more point is added to C; the 2% roll is repeated until it fails.

Damage

C

1-11

1

12-18

2

19-25

3

26-33

4

34-45

5

45+

6

Then use C on the following tables to determine the severity of the cut or stunning. The value is added to the cut or stun counter as appropriate. (If either cutting or stunning is possible, choose one outcome at random.)

Some monsters are able to breathe at the player for damage. If a monster does breathe, it has effects as the following chart indicates. The monster does damage based on its current hit point total (divided as indicated), but cannot do more damage than the indicated maximum. Regular breath attacks have a radius of 2; powerful breath attacks have a radius of 3. (Other monsters may be caught in the blast; they take less damage if they have the appropriate elemental resist or can breathe the substance themselves, or if other more esoteric criteria are met.)

The "resistance" column indicates how much damage is taken if the character has resistance against the indicated attack (remember that basic elemental damage can be reduced further), or "None" if no resistance is possible.

The "destruction" column indicates what sorts of objects on the ground are destroyed by the breath; "fire" means that fire-sensitive objects are destroyed, etc. Artifacts can never be destroyed in this way.

Side effects are also listed. If "other" is listed, read the paragraphs below the chart to find out what the other effects are. A "D" in the side effects columns indicates the damage done by that particular attack.

One important side note: uniques cannot be reduced to below one hit point by being caught in the area of a breath attack or a ball spell.

Damage Type

Damage Done

Damage Max

Resistance

Destruction

Side Effects

acid

HP/3

1600

1/3

acid

Standard acid damage

chaos

HP/6

600

6/(6+1d6)

none

Confuse[9+1d20], other

confusion *

HP/6

400

5/(6+1d6)

none

Confuse[10+1d20]

darkness

HP/6

400

4/(6+1d6)

none

Blind[2+1d5] **

disenchantment

HP/6

500

6/(6+1d6)

none

other

fire

HP/3

1600

1/3

fire

Standard fire damage

force

HP/6

200

None

cold

Stun[1d20]

frost

HP/3

1600

1/3

cold

Standard cold damage

gravity

HP/3

200

None

none

Stun[1d(5+D/3) max 1d35], Slow![3+1d4], other

inertia

HP/6

200

None

none

Slow![3+1d4]

light

HP/6

400

4/(6+1d6)

none

Blind[2+1d5] **

lightning

HP/3

1600

1/3

elec.

Standard elec. damage

nether

HP/6

550

6/(6+1d6)

none

other

nexus

HP/3

250

6/(6+1d6)

none

other

plasma

HP/6

150

None

fire/elec.

Stun[1d(5+3D/4) max 1d35]

poison

HP/3

800

1/3

none

Standard poison damage

shards

HP/6

400

6/(6+1d6)

cold

Cut[D]

sound

HP/6

400

5/(6+1d6)

cold

Stun[1d(5+3D/4) max 1d35]

time

HP/3

150

None

none

other

* Chaos resistance will also reduce damage to the indicated amount.

** Resistance to the breath attack will prevent the blindness side effect. Blindness can only occur if the character is not currently blind; i.e. the effect is *not* cumulative. Also, the squares touched by the attack are darkened/lit depending on the breath type.

Other side effects

Chaos

Chaos breath will cause the player to hallucinate for 1d10 turns if the player lacks resist chaos. Chaos breath may also drain experience points if the player does not have resistance to either nether or chaos; the experience point total is reduced by 2% plus 5000 additional points if the player does not have hold life (if the player does have hold life, the loss only occurs 1 in 4 times, and the loss is reduced by 90%).

Disenchantment

If the character does not have resist disenchantment, this will also attempt to disenchant a random equipped weapon or piece of armor, reducing bonuses to-hit, to-dam, and to AC by 1 or 2 points; bonuses cannot drop below zero. Artifacts have a 3 in 5 chance to resist the disenchantment effect.

Gravity

Gravity breath also teleports the character up to 5 squares; there is no way to resist this effect.

Nether

Unless the character has resist nether, nether breath also reduces his or her experience point total by 2% plus 200 additional points. If the character has hold life, the experience point loss only occurs 1 in 4 times, and the loss is reduced to 0.2% plus 200 additional points.

Nexus

If the character does not have resist nexus, the breath has an additional effect; roll 1d7 and apply the appropriate result:1, 2, or 3 Teleports the character up to 200 squares (no saving throw)4 or 5 Teleports the character to the monster (no saving throw)6 Teleport level (saving throw allowed)7 Randomly exchange two stats (saving throw allowed)

Time

Time breath has the following side effects:50% of the time the character's experience point total is reduced by 2%, plus 100 experience points.40% of the time one random statistic is reduced.10% of the time all six statistics are reduced.There is no way to resist any of these extra effects.

Other breath effects on monsters

Chaos

May polymorph and/or confuse monsters caught in the blast.

Confusion

May confuse monsters caught in the blast. Monster that cannot be confused take less damage.

Disenchantment

Disenchanter eyes and molds resist damage as if they breathed disenchantment.

The description message (in quotes) is the message you will see when the monster casts the spell (assuming you can see the monster).

Saving throws do not apply unless explicitly mentioned.

Bolt Spells

Unlike other types of monster spells, bolt spells require a clear line of sight from the monster to the player to hit the player; if another monster stands in between, it will be hit and affected by the spell instead of the player (again, uniques cannot be reduced to below one hit point in this way).

The "Damage" column describes the effect of the bolt spells. In some cases a breath type is indicated in parentheses; in these cases the bolt has all the personal effects of a breath of that particular type (see above for details). For example, a plasma bolt can stun a character lacking resist sound for up to 35 turns. If no breath type is indicated, there is no way to avoid or reduce the resulting hit point loss.

Spell

Damage

Description

magic missile

2d6+M/3

"casts a magic missile."

lightning bolt

4d8+M/3 (lightning)

"casts a lightning bolt."

frost bolt

6d8+M/3 (frost)

"casts a frost bolt."

acid bolt

7d8+M/3 (acid)

"casts an acid bolt."

fire bolt

9d8+M/3 (fire)

"casts a fire bolt."

plasma bolt

10+8d7+M (plasma)

"casts a plasma bolt."

ice bolt

6d6+M (frost), Cut[5d8], Stun[1d15]

"casts an ice bolt."

water bolt

10d10+M, Stun[1d40], Confuse[5+1d5]

"casts a water bolt."

nether bolt

30+5d5+3M/2 (nether)

"casts a nether bolt."

mana bolt

50+1d(7M/2)

"casts a mana bolt."

Ball Spells

Ball spells affect a circular area centered on the player; the radius of the blast is two squares for most monsters, but ball spells cast by powerful monsters have a radius of 3. In most cases a breath type is given in parentheses; in these cases the ball spell has all the effects of breath of the same type (including object destruction and effects on other monsters). If no breath type is indicated, there is no way to avoid or reduce the resulting hit point loss.

Spell

Damage

Description

poison ball

12d2 (poison)

"casts a stinking cloud."

lightning ball

8+1d(3M/2) (lightning)

"casts a lightning ball."

frost ball

10+1d(3M/2) (frost)

"casts a frost ball."

fire ball

10+1d(7M/2) (fire)

"casts a fire ball."

acid ball

15+1d(3M) (acid)

"casts an acid ball."

nether ball

50+10d10+M (nether)

"casts a nether ball."

water ball

50+1d(5M/2), Stun[1d40], Confuse[5+1d5]

"gestures fluidly. You are engulfed in a whirlpool."

darkness storm

10d10+5M (darkness)

"invokes a darkness storm."

mana storm

10d10+5M; destroys all non-artifacts on the ground

"invokes a mana storm."

Curses

All curses will have the indicated effects unless a successful saving throw is made, in which case they have NO effect.

Spell

Damage inflicted and/or other effects

Description

light wounds

3d8

"points at you and curses."

serious wounds

8d8

"points at you and curses horribly."

critical wounds

10d15

"points at you, incanting terribly!"

mortal wounds

15d15, Cut![10d10]

"points at you, screaming the word DIE!"

terrify

Terrify[3+1d4]

"casts a fearful illusion."

blind

Blind[12+1d3]

"casts a spell, burning your eyes!"

confuse

Confuse[3+1d4]

"creates a mesmerising illusion."

slow

Slow[3+1d4]

"drains power from your muscles!"

paralyze

Paralyze[3+1d4]

"stares deep into your eyes!"

mind blasting

8d8, Confuse[3+1d4]

"gazes deep into your eyes."

brain smashing

12d15, Confuse[3+1d4], Slow![3+1d4], Blind[7+1d8], Paralyze[3+1d4]

"looks deep into your eyes."

Summoning Spells

All summoning spells summon monster(s) next to the player. Initial monsters have to arrive on locations within a range of two squares of the player that are not already occupied by a monster or a rune of protection.

All summonings generate monsters at a level equal to the average of the summoning monster's level (M) and the current dungeon level, plus five. I.e., a 31st level monster appearing on dungeon level 28 would summon monsters generated at level 34. (34 = (31+28)/2 + 5), rounded down.)

This table shows the summoning type (the same as that listed in the monster recall), the maximum number of monsters summoned ("N"), whether uniques can be called up by the spell ("U"), what types of monsters may appear (a letter of course indicates a monster symbolized by that letter), and the description the game gives you when the monster performs the summons (provided that your character is not blind).

Note: If a monster normally appears in groups, or is a unique that has an escort, an entire group or unique with escorts can be summoned; the extra monsters can appear outside the normal two-square summoning range, and do not count towards N.

Summoning Type

N U Monster(s)

Description

a monster

1 Y any monster

"summons help!"

monsters

8 Y any monster

"summons monsters!"

ants

6 N 'a'

"summons ants."

spiders

6 N 'S'

"summons spiders."

hounds

6 N 'C' or 'Z'

"summons hounds."

hydras

6 N 'M'

"summons hydras."

an angel

1 N 'A'

"summons an angel."

a demon

1 N any demon

"summons a hellish adversary!"

an undead

1 N any undead

"summons an undead adversary!"

a dragon

1 N any dragon

"summons a dragon!"

Greater Undead

8 Y 'L', 'V', or 'W'

"summons greater undead!"

Ancient Dragons

8 Y 'D'

"summons ancient dragons!"

Ring Wraiths

8 Y 'W' and unique *

"summons mighty undead opponents!"

Unique Monsters

8 Y any unique *

"summons special opponents."

* If this fails to summon the desired number of monsters, greater undead are summoned instead.

Other Spells

The message the game gives you is given in parentheses, following the name of the spell used in the monster recall.

haste-self ("concentrates on his/her/its body.")
Speeds up the spellcasting monster (+10 to speed for the first time the spell is cast, and +2 for each subsequent casting, up to a maximum of a +20 bonus to the monster's normal speed).

heal-self ("concentrates on his/her/its wounds.")
Restores 6M hit points to the spellcasting monster (in this case current hit points may not exceed maximum hit points). This spell will also remove any fear of your character that the monster may currently have.

teleport to ("commands you to return!")
Teleports the player next to the spellcasting monster.

teleport away ("teleports you away.")
Teleports the player up to 100 squares away.

teleport level ("gestures at your feet.")
Teleports the player one level up or down (random); the player can only be teleported down from the town, or up from level 99 (if Sauron is alive) or level 100 (if Morgoth is alive). This has no effect if the player has resist nexus or makes a successful saving throw.

create darkness ("gestures in shadow.")
Causes all squares within 3 squares of the player to become unlit, including any rooms that touch the radius of effect.

create traps ("casts a spell and cackles evilly.")
Creates traps on all squares surrounding the player. Traps are not created on squares containing objects or stairs.

cause amnesia ("tries to blank your mind.")
Attempts to cause amnesia in the player (causing the player to forget the map of the current dungeon level, as well as the precise identity of all objects currently equipped or in the player's inventory). This has no effect if the player makes a successful saving throw. In addition, any items that have been *Identified* are not forgotten by your character.

There are a number of other monster abilities that are treated similar to breath attacks and spells but are neither; these are as follows:

shriek for help ("makes a high pitched shriek.")
This aggravates monsters, waking all monsters within 40 squares of the player and speeding up those within line of sight.

fire an arrow ("fires an arrow.") [1d6 damage]
fire arrows ("fires an arrow!") [3d6 damage]
fire a missile ("fires a missile.") [5d6 damage]
fire missiles ("fires a missile!") [7d6 damage]
In these attacks, the monsters fires a projectile at the player that does the indicated damage. If a monster is in between the monster and the player, the intervening monster is hit instead. Regardless of what is hit, there is no way to resist the damage.